That John Bell

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.

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The Death of Stalin is a humerus film about Stalin’s leadership council who upon discovering Stalin’s death all begin “secretly” plotting to be his successor. It is funny in a subtle dry sort of way. It starts right off with the subtle humor, but I tired of some of it quickly. Near the middle of the film I got bored and lost interest on a couple of occassions, it got to a point where you feel “Ok, I get the Joke, let’s move on.” It only seems to lose steam the further it goes on, the ending is a bit dramatic and slightly shocking given how light the rest of the movie had been.

That said, it is actually a pretty good movie, the performances by the actors are all great as well as their characters themselves, and the story line, despite having it’s slow parts, was still entertaining enough. It was generally funny and made light of the ridiculousness of authoritarian extremist politics and had some really great scenes mixed within it. I saw this in theater with MoviePass, however had I paid full price I may not have had such a positive review of it due to the moments where it seemed to drag on. This would, however, make for an excellent movie to stream or rent with redbox at the lower price point than a theater.

I’m not at all involved in the movie industry nor claim to be an expert on, well, anything, this is just a layperson review of Best F(r)iends Volume One.

Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero are at it again. The legendary duo from The Room are back on the big screen with the instant-hit Best F(r)iends. In this movie, Tommy plays an eccentric mortician with a varied past named Harvey, and Greg a drifter named Jon. I absolutely loved that Greg’s character was named Jon because it made it feel like Tommy was talking to me, delivering them in his awkward way with my name included, which was really fun for me.

In contrast to The Room, Best F(r)iends is actually very well done. The edits and cuts are very near technically perfect, the usage of sight lines and composition is very well done, and some of the shots are downright beautiful. This excellent composition has the limited acting abilities of Tommy and Greg layered on top of it. And it was amazing. Greg’s acting ability was definitely tested but despite the far fetched plot lines, he delivered a believable (enough) performance. Tommy absolutely shined in the movie. His performance was absolute gold. There are moments where he obviously stepped over the lines or delivered them differently as intended, however they were smart enough to leave it just like that. Tommy’s quirks and personal character shine through this movie and honestly him misspeaking a line or gesturing absurdly is really what makes him so charming.

Tommy Wiseau is the American Dream personified, a completely self made man with a dream to be an actor, and although there are better actors, he accomplished his goal and has made and helped make two amazing movies. He had a dream and followed it, and when you see him on screen with all his quirky glory, you really can’t help but feel inspired and motivated. When he trips over a line or struggles with a word it just reminds you that he is human and just like us, and that really truly we can all achieve our goals if we work hard and love each other.

Tommy aside, the movie is actually very well produced and well done and I personally absolutely loved it. If you are a fan of Tommy & Greg and aware of their work then you will find the “flaws” as beautiful and charming as other fans do. If you are not familiar than it may be difficult to overlook some of it, and although it will still be enjoyable, it likely won’t give you the pleasure that it gives people who have followed their work. The story line itself is dark but there are just enough references to the room that combined with Tommy’s glowing personality keeps everything light and quite fun.

It’s unfortunate that this was such a limited run because I would love to see more people have the opportunity to visit this in the theater, I was very pleased to have been able to do so and have already pre-ordered tickets for Volume Two, which will be in theaters for two days only in very early June.